


Black Friday Nonsense

by mandysimo13



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Black Friday, Crack, Fluff, M/M, Target, retail hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-19
Packaged: 2018-02-26 08:35:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2645264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandysimo13/pseuds/mandysimo13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek has to go shopping with his Family on Black Friday. Stiles has to work the morning shift at Target on Black Friday. Neither is pleased with the current state of affairs until they meet between the aisles and develop a flirtation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Derek was afraid.

Very afraid.

Why did Laura even suggest, let alone insist, that he accompany her and the family out for shopping? And on Black Friday, no less. He had tried adamantly refusing. He tried reasoning. Finally he had tried begging but none of his arguments or pleas were heard and Laura was going to have her way.

“For fuck sake’s Derek, you’re a werewolf. Grow a pair and get in the van!”

So here he was, awake at an absurd hour on Friday morning and crammed into his sister’s minivan with his two sisters, his mom, and Laura’s two kids. He was going to be eaten alive. When Laura found a spot near the edge of the lot of the local Target she pulled in smoothly then whipped around scary fast, knocking Derek out of his sulk and filling him with terror, and handed Cora and him each a list.

“Now we don’t have much time because dad and Peter are out getting the tree and we want to be back and have everything wrapped before noon-”

“Why couldn’t I help with the tree,” Derek sulked.

“Because they only need two people to carry and strap a tree to a car. We are going to need your bulk to help haul everything to and from the car.”

“You know this is why America is evil right? Forcing people to work at absurd hours during the holidays.”

Laura scowled. Derek scowled. Cora giggled. Laura won the stare down.

“Stick to your lists and we’ll meet here at the car in two hours. Keep an eye on your carts and bare your fangs at anyone who tries to reach their hands into your stuff.” She looked at her two munchkins sitting in the far back bench seats. “Tali, Davie, you’re sticking with me, do not go wandering.” She fixed them with her patented “mom stare” and got emphatic nods in return. She turned her attention to their mother, “Mom you’re with Cora.”

“Who am I with,” Derek asked.

“You’re on your own kiddo. Big tough guy like you can handle this on your own.”

Derek absolutely did not whine. Cora absolutely did not laugh at his misery.

Yup. Eaten alive.

Derek huffed without without further response and glanced at his list before exiting the car. Laura had him doing shopping for Tali and Davie since she would have them with her.

_Tali - Monster High Clawdine doll, pair of pajamas (you know her favorite colors and size don’t be shy), pair of slippers, Taylor Swift 1989 CD..._

_Davie - Anything Avengers (the boy’s obsessed), pair of pajamas (you know what to do), pair of slippers, Lego Movie on DVD…_

The list was long. It filled up a whole lined notebook sheet with specific items, colors, notes on what would be better if Item X was unavailable. His sister was downright crazy. _Just keep your head down, glare and toss things into the basket. No one will bother you._ Yeah right, he was a wimp. His sister was the kick-ass, take no shit alpha in training. Not him. He gripped his cart tightly and sighed deeply and pushed his way into the fray.

~~~

Stiles had been here since five in the morning and he was goddamned tired. This is why America was evil. He had been up late with his family the night before, god forbid people in the retail industry celebrate any holidays, and was up way too early to cater to middle-aged, crazy soccer moms with SUV’s and a platinum card and who were absolutely not afraid to hit you with either over a dispute over a waffle iron.

He had just cleaned up a spill in aisle seven, refrigeration, where someone’s poorly attended child had succeeded in destroying four containers of eggnog and making the entire section smell like baby puke. He never understood the appeal to a drink that smelled like alcoholic baby vomit. After ditching the mop and bucket in maintenance he ducked behind a display of a giant, cardboard christmas tree in the “holiday aisle” _\- as if the whole freaking store wasn’t one big holiday aisle -_ to take a breath and rubbed his eyes. He _so_ did _not_ make enough money to handle this shit.

He was cataloguing the possible places where his life went wrong and led him to be working at a Target on Black Friday when a heavy hand on his shoulder scared the absolute piss outta him.

“Gah!” He spun around, knocking over the cardboard tree, and bringing up his well-versed mock karate pose. “What?”

“Uh…” Was all the response he got from a surprisingly attractive male, totally hot male, toting a cart overflowing with children’s junk.

“I’m sorry,” Stiles spat as he put his hands down and readjusted his red polo. “Just trying to catch a breath.”

“I completely understand,” The guy said in returned. He looked tired and scared.

“Can I help you with something?”

“Yeah uhm,” The guy squinted at a wrinkled piece of paper before continuing. “I really have no idea was most of this crap is but I need to find a Monster High doll?” He ended his sentence in a question as if he wasn’t sure such a thing existed.

“Oh yeah, we have those. Unless we’ve been cleaned out already. Those are in the girl’s toys. Come on.” He gestured for the man to follow him and he headed off towards the children’s toys section. “Is there a particular one you have in mind or?”

His follower snorted in amusement. “Not my idea. I don’t even know what a monster high is. This paper says I’m looking for a Clawdine doll.” He stared at the paper while he followed, pushing the cart on autopilot. “Why did they spell Claudine so weirdly?”

Stiles laughed as he rounded the corner to the toys, passing the sea of blue aisles into a field of pink ones. “They’re from a cartoon of a high school for monsters. They have all kinds of weird monster girls and weird names for them.” He turned down one aisle and was nearly bowled over by a woman carrying an armful of barbies.

“Watch it young man,” The lady snapped at him before giving Derek the evil eye and scurrying along.

Stiles just rolled his eyes and motioned for Derek to follow. He took him down the aisle to where there were splashes of pink, blue and black and before him stretched two whole shelves of Monster High merchandise. “You said Clawdine, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well you’re in luck,” Stiles said, his hands closing around the box, “There’s one lef-”

“Oh my god,” A woman shouted from the other side of Stiles. “The last one in the set! I need it!” She made grabbing hands at the box and Stiles held it above his head to keep her from snatching it.

“I’m sorry ma’am,” Stiles replied. “But this gentleman has already laid claim to it. Maybe come back in a couple days when we’ve restocked?”

“No! You don’t understand I need this doll,” She shrieked.

“I understand that you desire the doll, ma’am, but this is the last one and the man behind me has already claimed it.”

“It’s not in his cart! Give it to me right now or I’ll be forced to speak with your manager!” She reached for the box again and Stiles just barely kept it out of her reach.

“You may certainly do so, ma’am but I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait until we get our shipment in on Sunday if you are in need of this doll so badly.”

“But it won’t be on sale then,” she whined like a toddler having a tantrum. Which, in all fairness, is exactly what she resembled.

“You are correct. Now I’m sorry ma’am that we’re out but you’ll just have to deal with it like the adult you are and accept the fact that you can’t have everything you want.” _Crap. Shouldn’t have said that._

“Well I never,” She huffed, striding back to her cart to walk angrily down and out of the aisle.

When Stiles turned around to drop the doll in his hot customer’s cart he was stunned by the expression on his face. Surprise, appreciation and gratitude.

The guy swallowed visibly and stammered, “Th-thank you. You really didn’t have to do that. Are you going to be in trouble?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged and dropped the doll into the cart and shoved his hands in his khaki pockets. “But she was rude and you were here first. Just giving some good ol’ customer service.” He gave him a grin that was sincere but didn’t quite cover the beginning flutters of a rising panic. _Hopefully she got distracted by something else to spend her money on._ He really needed this job.

“Well,” the guy licked his lips and shook his head, smiling. “Seriously, thank you.” The guy extended his hand. “Derek. You have no idea how scary my sister is. I have no idea what would happen to me if I didn’t follow her list exactly.”

“Stiles.” Stiles shook his hand and eyed Derek, “Shopping with the family, huh? Sister? Those for nieces and nephew?” Stiles gestured to the very full cart.

Derek nodded. “Absolutely not my idea. I wanted to be in the tree picking car.”

Stiles laughed and Derek blushed. They stood there awkwardly, giggling and shuffling their feet.

“Well,” Stiles started, “I better get moving before a manager walks by and thinks I’m trying to get out of working by hitting on the customers.”

“Wouldn’t want to be the cause of any trouble.” Derek nodded his thanks and Stiles held up a hand in farewell and headed down the aisle in search of, though hoping to avoid, more Black Friday nonsense.

~~~

Derek had just barely made it out of the toy section without being accosted when someone saw that he had The Lego Movie in his cart and they tried to reach in and run off with it.

He growled as humanly as possible, “Don’t even try it buddy.” The guy took off running the opposite direction. In retrospect he might have taken Laura’s advice a little too literally and let his fangs show. He kept his head down as he made his way to the infinitely long checkout lines, hoping the ordeal would be over soon.

While he waited he double checked his list, comparing it with the items in the cart, and was satisfied that he had successfully gathered all the things Laura had specified. It wasn’t easy and he never wanted to partake in this madness again. _Why do I let her boss me around. I’m an adult, dammit!_

He finally made it to the front of the line and piled everything onto the conveyor belt. He eyed the beverage cooler and decided he had earned a little caffeine and added a Starbucks ice frappucino. When he finally looked up to interact with the cashier he felt his heart beat a touch faster. Stiles was at the cash register.

“Hello sir, did you find everything okaaa…” The final word dangled in Stiles’ mouth as he eyed Derek.

Derek blushed and bit his lip. “Thanks to you I did. Did you get in trouble?”

Stiles shook his head and kept scanning Derek’s items and dropping them into bags. “Not yet at least. Relieving someone for a break. Lucky bastard.”

Derek chuckled and scooped up a couple filled bags and dropped them into the cart. “So. What do you do when you’re not insulting the customers of Target?”

“I do some web design and some art on the side. Trying to build a rep and start my own company. You?”

Derek hesitated. He certainly couldn’t tell him that he was the muscle for his werewolf family. He could however tell him, “Bouncer. Nightclub named Claw Daddy’s.” He blushed. “Gay bear bar.”

Stiles openly laughed and clutched his stomach. “Oh my god, are you serious?”

“Wish I weren’t.”

“Damn. Thought my job was bad.”

Their conversation was cut short by a man behind Derek snapping, “Hey! Love birds! Some people have places to be!”

Derek flushed and muttered sorry and Stiles apologized and motioned for Derek to run his card to pay for his transaction. When the receipt came up, at least a foot and a half of paper, he handed it to Derek and Derek caught his hand. “Do you have a pen?”

Stiles hastily fished one off the register stand and handed it over. Derek scrawled something on the bottom of the receipt and tore off a bit of paper. He handed it over and said “Call me sometime. Anyone who can handle Black Friday like you is okay in my book.”

“Sure. Yeah, definitely.” He shoved the paper in his pocket before handing Derek the rest of his bags. They smiled at each other once more before Derek made his way towards the exit where his family waited for him.

~~~

Stiles finished out his shift with a smile on his face.

Nevermind that after he had been taken off register that he had to restock a bunch of misplaced items, refold four displays of sweaters that would only be unfolded again within minutes, and mopped up urine that had managed to be sprayed all over one stall in the bathroom.

He got Derek’s number and he was ecstatic.

When he got off shift first thing he did was program Derek’s number into his phone. And then stare at it the entire bus ride home. It was way too early to text him and ask how the rest of his day was going. It was a constant struggle. He settled for waiting until he had done absolutely everything resembling a chore he could think of first.

When he got home he took off his stinky work clothes and added them to his laundry basket and ran a load of clothes. He did his dishes and started chopping vegetables for a soup that he planned for dinner. He even went so far as checking his email to see if there were any new emails from his clients.

Two hours after he got home he let himself send a simple text: _Hey Derek, this is Stiles. Your knight in shining red polo shirt from Target. Please ignore the cheesy line, hope to hear from you soon._

 _And now we wait,_ he thought. 


	2. Epilogue

Derek’s phone chimed just as he had finished sticking the last gift tag on the last present and shoving it in the pile of presents he had wrapped. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw it was an unrecognized number but smiled when he saw the content.

_Hey Derek, this is Stiles. Your knight in shining red polo shirt from Target. Please ignore the cheesy line, hope to hear from you soon._

He was beyond thrilled.

He flopped on his bed and saved Stiles’ number in his phone and checked the time. He was expected downstairs to start the tree decorating in half an hour but he really wanted to hear Stiles’ voice.

Which was stupid since he didn’t even know him.

But he had saved him from Laura’s wrath so he couldn’t be bad, right?

Fuck it.

He brought up the new number and hit the dial button. It rang twice before a voice answered. “Hi! I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”

“I could say the same about you.” He bit his lip and swallowed the urge to giggle. “You happened to text when I had a moment free. How was the rest of you shift?”

“Shitty. But it’s behind me for the next couple days at least. How’s your afternoon going?”

“Just finished wrapping presents. Seriously, thank you again for saving me from Laura’s wrath. You have no idea what she’s capable of when she’s mad.”

Stiles scoffed, “Wimp.”

“When it comes to her? Guilty. One hundred percent.”

They laughed and chatted about how crazy and ridiculous it is that people feel the need to go out and buy tons of crap after they spend a whole day “being thankful” for the stuff they already had. Eventually the laughing died down and Derek broke the silence.

“So I was wondering, you know, if you’re the kind of guy who drinks coffee-”

“I drink coffee.”

“That you might like to meet up sometime?”

“Yeah,” Stiles breathed, obviously happy with the turn of events.

They agreed to meet the next day at noon at a little coffee shop downtown. Derek checked the time on his phone and frowned. “I really hate to run but my family is expecting me. Christmas tree trimming time.”

“Sounds like a blast. Have a good night.”

“You too. See you tomorrow.”

They said their goodbyes and Derek hung up feeling better than he had all day. He stuffed his phone in his pocket and gathered all his gift wrapped presents and headed downstairs to join his family. His footsteps on the stairs were softened by his socks but everyone could tell he was coming.

“Whoa,” Peter said, appearing around the corner of the kitchen. “What’s got you so happy?”

Derek blushed. “Nothing Peter.”

“Ooh, it certainly ain’t nothing. You’re too happy for it to be nothing.” Peter sniffed around his neck. “My, my, my. Our little Derek’s met someone.”

“Don’t tease your nephew,” Talia called from the living room.

“Yes sister dearest.” Peter took the hint and backed off but kept the sly grin on his face. He obviously planned on poking fun whenever he could.

Whatever. He could handle it.

He dropped the presents with the ones Laura and Cora had already wrapped on the couch and made to grab a string of lights. He twisted one end through the top branches and started feeding it through the branches of the spruce pine, inhaling deeply of it’s earthy, piney smell. Laura sidled up to him, following his lights with garlands of tinsel. “So, why are you so happy?”

He couldn’t lie to her, no matter how hard he tried. “A boy called me.”

Laura smacked his arm and smiled, “When did you meet a guy?”

“At Target. Hunting for that stupid do-”

“Shh!” Laura nodded towards Tali and Derek clamped his mouth shut.

“While I was finishing my list. He helped me find something and warded off some lady who wanted to take the last one.” He smiled in memory. “He texted me calling himself ‘my knight in shining red polo’.”

“Sounds like a dork.” Laura grinned and bumped his shoulder with her own. “Sounds perfect for you.”

“Hey!” Derek tried to protest but it was hard from his angle, crouching and head half buried in branches, to make any kind of convincing argument.

In no time they had the base of decoration on the tree and it was time to add the ornaments. Everyone took turns taking ornaments up to the tree and fastening them to the branches. In an hour the tree glittered and it was disgustingly festive. They added the presents to the bottom of the tree and it almost looked like a Better Homes and Gardens magazine cover.

“Alright, everyone get together, we’re taking the annual photo,” Talia said as she shooed the kids over to the tree and the adults groaned. “No whining! It’s tradition.” She set up the tripod and set the timer and ran to join everyone by the tree. The flash went off with everyone smiling and then everyone dispersed. “Very nice everyone,” Talia remarked. “Now we can eat. Go on, set the table.”

The rest of the evening passed in amicable conversation and, blessedly, no one teased Derek about his new found giddiness and Derek went to bed full of happy thoughts.

The next day he took his time with his personal grooming and trifled over his wardrobe until he finally had Laura help him. She picked out a gray cashmere sweater and pair of jeans and white tshirt. He didn’t question as he threw them on. He just hoped he looked better than he did yesterday.

Derek’s thoughts swirled of nothing but how excited he was on his way to the cafe. When he finally got there he took a deep breath before walking in, bell on the door tinkling. When he spied Stiles sitting in the corner, red hoodie and blue skull cap on his head, he couldn’t help thinking, _maybe Black Friday isn’t so bad after all._


End file.
